United States
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 16
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 47
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The pace of USA executions is on the rise, pushed by...
- News items in the archive
- 1,537
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
United States is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 16 executions in the country, against 47 the year before. The archive holds 1,537 news items on United States, from 1999 to today.
In the United States the death penalty is a matter for the individual states as well as the federal government: some have abolished it, some retain it without applying it, and some carry out executions regularly. The prevailing method is lethal injection, and several states have reintroduced alternative methods.
Its death rows are among the most populated in the world and the wait often lasts decades. The debate concerns the availability of the drugs, wrongful convictions and the conditions of isolation. The archive follows executions, stays, commutations and court decisions, state by state.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Pakistan said it was prepared to extradite key al Qaeda...
Pakistan said it was prepared to extradite key al Qaeda suspect Ramzi Binalshibh to the United States after completing its own investigations and legal formalities
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
European and US teams are trying to reach a deal on...
European and US teams are trying to reach a deal on extraditing terror suspects who may face the death penalty if convicted in a US court
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
European and US teams are trying to reach a deal on...
European and US teams are trying to reach a deal on extraditing terror suspects who may face the death penalty if convicted in a US court
- AUGUST 29, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In an unusual public statement about the death penalty,...
In an unusual public statement about the death penalty, 3 Supreme Court justices said the time is right to consider abolishing capital punishment for killers who committed their crimes as minors
- AUGUST 18, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Nurse Wendy Alsford spent her working life confronting...
Nurse Wendy Alsford spent her working life confronting illness, frailty and death as she cared for society's sick in hospitals across Britain
- AUGUST 10, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A trend that sees women drawn to marry killers waiting...
A trend that sees women drawn to marry killers waiting to die on death row is increasing
- AUGUST 1, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson urged...
United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson urged the United States to lift the death sentences on two men in Texas who were under 18 when they committed murder
- JULY 19, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
America is ready to drop its demand for Pakistan to...
America is ready to drop its demand for Pakistan to extradite Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born Muslim extremist sentenced to death for masterminding the kidnap and murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl
- JULY 18, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Senate Judiciary Committee took the 1st step toward...
The Senate Judiciary Committee took the 1st step toward reforming the nation's death penalty system Thursday, approving a measure aimed at giving inmates greater access to DNA testing to prove their innocence and ensuring they have competent counsel at tr
- JUNE 27, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A UK MP representing Knowsley South, Eddie O'Hara,...
A UK MP representing Knowsley South, Eddie O'Hara, urged US President George Bush to scrap the death penalty
- JUNE 20, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The U
The U
- JUNE 14, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to...
The US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to bring the United States into compliance with two international counterterrorism treaties, easing extradition of bombing suspects and conforming laws against financing of terrorist activities
- JUNE 13, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been asked to step in...
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been asked to step in to save death row Scot Kenny Richey from execution
- JUNE 5, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
An alleged anti-abortion killer was deported from France...
An alleged anti-abortion killer was deported from France to the US to face trial for murder
- MAY 21, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A US judge smoked marijuana and now the appeals of...
A US judge smoked marijuana and now the appeals of two men he sentenced to death have spread alarm through the courts that the case will open up a disturbing new target for defence lawyers - the private lives of judges and prosecutors
- MAY 14, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Former U
Former U
- MAY 10, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Concluding its special session on children, the General...
Concluding its special session on children, the General Assembly adopted the final outcome document -- "A World Fit for Children" -- which reaffirms the commitment of governments to complete the unfinished agenda of the 1990 World Summit for Children
- MAY 7, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The terrorist crimes of Sept
The terrorist crimes of Sept
- APRIL 10, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the...
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the world doubled in 2001, mainly because of a crackdown on crime in China, Amnesty International said
- APRIL 6, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Pakistani President Gen
Pakistani President Gen
- APRIL 5, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The trial of British born Omar Saeed Sheikh and three...
The trial of British born Omar Saeed Sheikh and three alleged accomplices accused of murdering the American reporter Daniel Pearl opened in Karachi amid tight security but was adjourned after just one hour
- APRIL 4, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistani High Court rejected an appeal for an open...
A Pakistani High Court rejected an appeal for an open court trial of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born Islamic militant charged with the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl
- APRIL 3, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The American Bar Association recently announced the...
The American Bar Association recently announced the creation of the Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project
- MARCH 29, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The British-born militant Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was...
The British-born militant Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was charged in Pakistan with the kidnapping and murder of the US journalist Daniel Pearl, told the judge at the closed hearing in court in Karachi that he did not recognise the court, adding: "I request my
- MARCH 24, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Halle Berry became the first African American woman...
Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win an Oscar for a lead role for her portrayal of a death row wife/widow in the movie "Monsters Ball
- MARCH 22, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Islamist who confessed...
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Islamist who confessed to masterminding the kidnapping of American reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan was charged with his murder and faces execution if convicted
- MARCH 21, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The American terror trials of al-Qaeda and Taleban...
The American terror trials of al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects will give defendants more rights than had previously been expected, but will still allow prosecutors greater leeway than in normal courts, the Bush Administration said
- MARCH 20, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Despite the events of September 11, Americans' support...
Despite the events of September 11, Americans' support for the death penalty is "virtually unchanged" from a year ago, and down considerably from five years ago
- MARCH 12, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Kenny Richey, Jackie Elliot and Krishna Maharaj are...
Kenny Richey, Jackie Elliot and Krishna Maharaj are the three British inmates on death row in the United States
- MARCH 4, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Al-Qaeda suspects at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, who have been...
Al-Qaeda suspects at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, who have been held by US forces for two months, have been warned that they face the death penalty although no evidence has been given against them